Bequeathed the Del Prado

[micklen]

Hello to all of you
I am a 59 year old man, disabled for some years with arthritic knees
I used to enjoy working with wood and posessed a small lathe which I used to use fo making pens and pencils, small bowls, lace bobbins etc
As the arthritis developed though we decided to move into a flat to make life a little easier for us so unfortunately the lathe had to go

I still badly needed a hobby other than the computer though so I started making my own boilies as I am a bit of a fisherman
You can only make so many though
I then returned to my childhood and put together the Revell model of the Tirpitz which took me a little while
During the making of this I began looking at dolls houses
I knew my wife's cousin had done a lot of this type of work with her husband who sadly died far too soon a few years back
She told us that she had the Del Prado dolls house untouched in the attic as they had never got around to starting it
Eventually the kit and I got together
checking through I found it went up to issue 103 so the attic extras were not there and there were 11 other issues missing
I did manage to scource all of these however from a couple of online companies, one of which is actually in my town and they seem to be able to get hold of practically anything in this line
I will decide on the attic extras as I near finishing
After reading through the Del Prado stories here I made a start
Some of the papers in the kit I liked but others I didn't so most of the rooms are decorated with a heavier paper obtained from the wife who makes cards
They may not be the most ideal, some of them, but the wife chose what she liked and as the house is going to her...............
I did find the initial putting together a bit tricky, as others seem to have done, with things not QUITE fitting
Luckily with my earlier wood working experience I was able to overcome them....So far!!
I currently have the downstairs erected and the bathroom 3 parts done
As I no longer work I do have plenty of time to work on it so hopefully it will go together fairly quickly

I will put some pics at the bottom so that you can see the current progress

If anyone out there has any advice, hints or tips on this build, I would be very happy to receive them
I will keep you all updated with the build

Mick

[coodencat]

Hi Micklen First off welcome to you and well done for taking up the DH hobby. And all the research that went into getting the items you needed. You are a spring chick I started this hobby at 63
As you look through the various postings threads am sure you will find lots of helpful advice.
One thing comes to mind is your mention of wallpaper a lot of us use the good old B&Q for our "freebies" you can get some very suitable patterns.
By the pics you look as if you are flying along keep us updated with your progress.

tc carol

[Dolly donut]

welcome to both the hobby and the forums. i built this kit some time ago now, its been years infact. i did have problems with it, i had neither the confidence nor the experience to persevere with it and it went together rather lopsided. the biggest problem was probably my impatience back then. my instincts told me to wait until i had the bulk of the magazine, however, my desire to see my first house go up took over with rubbish results.

i see you have both patience, and, more importantly, skill lol, so yours seems to be coming together beautifully. main piece of advice i can give is some that i read about when i was new to this hobby. its your house so do what you want to it and put inside whatever you like, or, in this case, your wife likes. i think the wallpapering looks fab. some of us just print off freebies or, as Coodecat mentioned, tear off freebies from the diy shops . in short, if you like it, then it works, afterall we only look at it once in a picture, you will look at it over and over again

[jeanmtweddle]

Welcome to the forum Micklen - house looks good so far.

[davidsmum]

Hello Micklen

Welcome to the forum. Your work on the house looks great so far and as the others have said, DIY store freebies are the way to go. Matchpots are excellent for the painted walls and go a fair distance at that scale. Looking forward to your progress with this and if you need to ask any questions, there's usually someone around who can help.

[jinglepupskye]

I had the del prado house and my dad put it together for me. I used to love going to the newspaper shop on a Sunday morning to pick up the next part. Your house looks lovely.

[micklen]

I have encountered what could be a serious problem
When I fitted the bedroom floor it was a shade tight and when I looked at the house the next morning it looked as though something had maybe warped slightly and had pulled the bottom joints open on the hallway
I have tried a simple glue and clamp to see if that will hold but I think that to ease my mind I may have to glue and tack a strip of wood along the very bottom to secure everything

On to lighter things, I have also been putting some of the furniture together while watching TV
I have stained these
I know I could have probably got a much better finish by filling and painting but I am not a fan of painted furniture at the best of times
I gave it a coat or stain then rubbed it down a bit, filled where necessary and stained again
You will never get rid of the problems with the tenon on plywood end and the plywood end edges not looking quite right but I just prefer natural wood
One day when the house is done I may sit down and make my own furniture with tongue and groove fittings so things look a lot more real
One day

The wife also found some really different map pins that make great handles
Have a look at the pics below
Close-ups of the pins and the web address of the company that makes them

Have fun

Mick

[sandraellen]

Welcome to the forum
Sandra

[micklen]

Getting a little worried that things are just a little off square
I will get a better idea though when I start to fit the roof and then the front
Hopefully things will go together nicely
If not I guess there may be a bit if woodwork to do

Here's the latest pics

Mick

[DeeGee]

Don't worry too much about everything being perfectly square. It's not in real life

Careful cutting on skirting boards and coving covers a multitude of sins.